Mora County, in New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Mora County lies within the Taos & the Sangre de Cristo High Country — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Mora County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Mora County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Mora County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Mora County — the short answer
Mora County, New Mexico: USDA zone 6b, about 163 days between hard freezes, across 1.2M acres.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~163
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 1.2M acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 6b is Mora County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mora County's 163-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Mora County
Across a year, Mora County accumulates about 1,521 growing degree days above 50°F, about 1,652 fewer than the middle New Mexico county — ahead of 1 of New Mexico’s 33 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Mora County
Across Mora County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Partri, Apache, and Capulin are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.0–7.5, neutral. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Well drained
Hydric soils
1%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Mora County
The USDA soil survey maps 98% of Mora County as well drained — but another 3% drains differently: 2% moderately well drained.
Partri is the most extensive named soil at 11% of mapped acres, then Apache (7%) and Capulin (6%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Mora County
Each reading below is measured for Mora County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Mora County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Mora County runs about pH 7.0–7.5, close to neutral.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredMora County runs about 163 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredMora County sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Mora County is in
Mora County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Southwestern Tablelands (69%) and Southern Rockies (31%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Mora County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Mora County's own USDA zone 6b and its own 163-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile.
Is it too late to plant in Mora County?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What gets applied to farmland in Mora County
USGS estimates 6,354 lb of 2,4-d on Mora County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Dicamba (3,100 lb) and Glyphosate (793 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Mora County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Mora County — 44 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 11 mining sites. Historic and active mines that may leach heavy metals like arsenic, lead, and cadmium.
The federal record across Mora County is light. Growing food here starts from a strong position — a quick pass over the map tells you whether any recorded site sits near your land, and if one does, that's information to plant with, not a reason to stop.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Mora County
Closest first, across Mora County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NMDOT WAGON MOUND PATROL YARD 44 64Underground Storage Tanks · 11.6 mi
- WAGON MOUND PHILLIPS 66 STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 11.6 mi
- LJM TRAVEL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 11.6 mi
- 18N.18E.01.333Nitrate · 12.3 mi
- NATIONAL PARK SERVICE FORT UNION NATIONAL MONUMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 12.3 mi
- WATROUS SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 12.3 mi
- MOBERGS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 13.8 mi
- TEXACO WATROUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 13.8 mi
- MANZANARES GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 15.9 mi
- LEVIS TEXACO 2Underground Storage Tanks · 16.8 mi
- CORN CONSTRUCTION COBrownfields · 16.8 mi
- CANYON COLORADO RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 17.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mora County's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Mora County.
Sources Checked
across Mora County
Severity Distribution
across Mora County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mora County, two things run higher than the national average across Mora County — Mining (11 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (29 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Mora County
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mora County average
Your land is one point inside Mora County
Everything above resolves to Mora County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 1.2M acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at county scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better county average.
Your Lot vs the Mora County Average
Mora County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Mora County
- ●One soil character for all of Mora County
- ●Frost dates read at Mora County's scale: May 2 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mora County's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Mora County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mora County, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mora County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mora County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mora County average
How we know this about Mora County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Mora County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Mora County
When does frost risk typically end in Mora County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mora County typically lands around May 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about May 23.
How long is the growing season in Mora County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mora County sees about 163 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 28, about 128 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mora County?
The federal record around Mora County is light — 44 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (29), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 12 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
Everything above is measured at Mora County's scale — its 6b band and its 163-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mora County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads New Mexico's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Mora County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Mora County's own scale — its own ~163-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 44 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mora County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Mora County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~163-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Mora CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 44 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 12 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Mora County's boundary and the 1,232,801 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~163-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Mora County spans, Southwestern Tablelands the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Mora County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every New Mexico grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New Mexico
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Mora County — the ~163 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mora County's 1,232,801 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 44 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Mora Countyread your own land →